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About the Book

First released in 2007, the bestselling Transport Revolutions argued that land transport in the first half of the 21st century will feature at least two revolutions. One will involve the use of electric drives rather than internal combustion engines. Another will involve powering many of these drives directly from the electric grid - as trains and trolley buses are powered today - rather than from on-board fuel.
Now available for the first time in paperback and updated with the most recent data, it sets out the challenges to our growing dependence on transport fuelled by low-priced oil. These challenges include an early peak in world oil production and profound climate change resulting in part from oil use. It proposes responses to ensure effective, secure movement of people and goods in ways that make the best use of renewable sources of energy while minimizing environmental impacts. Synthesizing engineering, economics, environment, organization, policy and technology in a detailed yet highly readable style, Transport Revolutions is essential reading for anyone working, studying or interested in transport and the environment.

Reviews

'Remarkably timely, optimistic, and practical.' – Tony Hiss, author of The Experience of Place and visiting scholar at New York University

'An important book… Transport Revolutions needs to be considered by all of us if travel is to continue in the years ahead.' – Sunday News, PA

'This book should be on the desk of every transport minister's chief policy adviser.' – John Adams, Emeritus Professor of Geography, University College London

'This is an exceptionally well thought-out book.' – Colin Axon, Deputy Director, Institute for Carbon and Energy Reduction in Transport, University of Oxford.

'If policy makers ignore this book it is at our peril.' – Dave Hughes, Senior Geoscientist and Energy Analyst, Geological Survey of Canada

'One of the most thought-provoking books to cross my desk in a long while.' – Barbara Yaffe, Vancouver Sun

'Transport Revolutions draws lessons from the past to develop insightful scenarios about the future of transportation and how it will be fuelled, useful to students and policy-makers around the world. This wide-ranging book blends history, economics and political science to describe the complex relationship between petroleum and how our economies move.' – David Bragdon, President of the Metro Portland, Oregon

'A terrific book! Gilbert and Perl spell out the policy options that are before us and illuminate the consequences of the paths we may choose. Whether or not the reader agrees with their analysis, this is a book that deserves to be read, debated, and recommended to others concerned about the economic, environmental, and social wellbeing of our small planet.' – Elizabeth Deakin, Professor of City Planning and Director, Transportation Center, University of California

'Gilbert and Perl's analysis of solutions to the transportation dilemmas facing us in an era of diminished hydrocarbon availability is absolutely fundamental reading for all of us, but particularly for policymakers who can make a difference. If policymakers ignore this book, it is at our peril.' – Dave Hughes, President, Global Sustainability Research

'This remarkably timely, optimistic and practical book is about transitioning painlessly in two stages to an oil-depleted world. Gilbert and Perl have assembled, digested, and integrated a staggering amount of information, and they describe the revolutions ahead in clear, readable, non-jargony prose.' – Tony Hiss, Author of The Experience of Place: A New Way of Dealing with our Radically Changing Cities and Countryside, and visiting scholar, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, NYU

'People writing about the future of transport tend to fall into one of two camps: technological determinists who argue that cars will always triumph and that oil depletion and climate change are illusory, and doomsayers who prognosticate a world of inevitable decline and loss of mobility. Perl and Gilbert's Transport Revolutions takes the middle path, presenting the incontrovertible evidence about peak oil and climate change, and detailing sensible policies and investments which could avert the looming problems. This book deserves a wide audience, and will be useful for policymakers, analysts and professionals and environmentalists alike.' – Hank Dittmar, Chief Executive of The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment; former Chair of the Congress for the New Urbanism; and author of Transport and Neighbourhoods, and co-author and editor of New Transit Town

'Transport Revolutions is remarkably well researched. Those who see imminent catastrophic decline in oil based energy for mobile transport will probably regard the authors Gilbert and Perl as being much too conservative or passive. Those who crave a future that can proceed as 'business as usual' will regard this work as too disruptive and too much of a call to us all to mend our ways. Alternative energy sources, forms and modalities are defined in an objective overview of the various options. The case for renewables and the nuclear option is made with objective analysis. In summary Transport Revolutions is a work of great merit and standard of measure.' –Rt Hon Edward Schreyer, former Governor General of Canada, former Premier of Manitoba

"Transport Revolutions enlightens readers on a series of concepts and should be very useful for practitioners interested in analyses from a global to a local scale. Undoubtedly, this book provides the reader with a fresh perspective and a source of inspiration for several topics that are now current in transportation planning" – Simone Caschili, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design.

About the Authors

Richard Gilbert is a Toronto-based consultant who focuses on transport and energy issues, with recent public- and private-sector clients in North America, Europe and Asia.
Anthony Perl is a Professor of Political Science and Urban Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, where he directs the Urban Studies Program.